Arsonists start three gorse fires in Blaenau Ffestiniog

The large gorse fire which was started in Blaenau Ffestiniog on Saturday night (Image: Keith Robinson)

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Crews tackled four separate gorse fires in the space of two hours in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area last night.

The first incident took place at 8.15pm on Monday evening at Cwm Bowydd, where 60 square feet of gorse was alight.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

Just 15 minutes later, firefighters were sent out to tackle another blaze at Clogwyn in Manod, where one acre of land had been torched by arsonists.

At 9.30pm, arsonists started another fire near land at Ysgol y Moelwyn secondary school in Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control by 10.15pm, by which time the crew were called to deal another arson attack Cwm Bowydd.

Around 30 acres of gorse was set alight in the blaze which fire crews managed to get under control by 10.30pm.

Kevin Jones, Arson Reduction Manager, said: “The recent dry weather has increased the risk of rural fires and that it was disheartening to find that many of these incidents had either been ignited deliberately.

“Deliberate fires place tremendous pressure on resources, with our crews tied up for a considerable length of time trying to bring them under control, which in turn delays firefighters from attending life threatening incidents.”

Around 20 acres of the Moelwyn range were well set alight at just after 9pm on Saturday.

Strong winds spread the flames to 50 acres shortly after midnight before the fire was brought under control by crews using beaters, by around 1.15am.

But the firefighters returned to the scene at 6am after it re-ignited and by 8.10am it spanned 100 acres of gorse and bracken.

During an urgent question and answer session in the Assembly today, Welsh Government minister for education and skills Leighton Andrews said those who were starting blazes “deliberately committing a criminal offence”.